The Wonders Of Drinking
by MaximusWang
Summary: So the up-tight captain of the tenth division is introduced to the wonders of drinking. Rated M for language and with the way the story is going in my head a lot of smut...Read and Review :D
1. The High

**First fanfic ever. So erm…reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated.**

**Pairing: Hitsugaya & Matsumoto. (since Matsumoto is kick-ass and Hinamori is too clingy and needy. . )**

**Was originally supposed to be an one-shot but 1) I was too lazy to write it all in one setting and 2) I thought of some interesting ideas to continue the story with**

**Disclaimer: Only bleach I own is the Clorox bleach used to wash my clothes. Hence I do not own Bleach(the series)**

* * *

He groaned and rubbed his temples as he looked at the report in front of him. With every typo or misspelling he saw, the pounding in his head increased. He swore under his breath, muttering things that would've made even the Eleventh Division blush, "What…hell…can only swing around a fucking sword…can't fill out a simple form for shit…" 

His teal eyes scanned the room, as always whenever paperwork was involved Matsumoto was nowhere to be seen. He was slightly relieved, as even the thought of his bubbly fukutaicho served to only aggravate his pounding headache. He turned back to the report at hand and furrowed his brows as he tried to make sense of the scribbles on the sheet.

He was so focused on the stacks of paperwork in front of him that he did not notice the creaking of the opening door or the steps of the person sneaking up behind him. Suddenly two slender hands covered his eyes and two exquisitely soft round things came to rest on either side of his head. A cheery voice chirped, "Guess who Taicho!"

"Masumoto…Let go of me…," Toshiro growled, annoyance evident in his voice. He heard a small gasp of surprise as the hands uncovered his eyes.

"How did you guess so quickly? You're so smart Taicho," she sounded disappointed.

Toshiro twitched visibly 'Was she really this ditzy, or is it all an act to annoy me?' he thought to himself.

"Seeing that you somehow managed to get to the office still sober there's a pile of paperwork…," he turned around expecting Matsumoto to have backed up a little, only to be rewarded with a face full of breasts. He spluttered the last part of his sentence and stood up quickly, feeling his face get flushed. It was at times like this that he was glad he grew a little. He was no longer at boob level but more at shoulder level.

Matsumoto gasped again, "I never knew you were so bold Taicho."

Toshiro was fully flustered now, "Nobody's being bold or anything. If you're done fooling around, there's paperwork for you to finish."

"Aw so mean Taicho. After I got you a present from the real world too," Matsumoto pouted.

Toshiro twitched, a vein visible on his temple, "Where?" he hissed.

"The real world. You know that place where Ichigo and Inoue live." She giggled as she began to rummage through the bag she pulled from seemingly thin air.

"Yes, yes I know where the real world is. What I meant to say was why were you there," Toshiro could barely conceal the anger that was creeping into his voice.

"Shopping. The real world has some of the nicest things." Matsumoto stated matter-of-factly. "Ah, here it is." She chirped, pulling out a bottle from the huge bag.

"I swear…," Toshiro gritted his teeth, reminding himself to breath, "I'll make it so you won't be able to sleep for a whole week."

Matsumoto blinked several times in surprise before the corners of her mouth started to curl up, "Is that a promise?" she whispered seductively and winking.

Toshiro blinked, anger forgotten as confusion reigned dominant. What? What did he say? He tried working out what he had said in his head, immediately starting to blush as he realized the hidden innuendo behind his words. "No…I meant…PAPERWORK! THAT'S WHAT I MEANT," he almost squeaked, read as a tomato. He, taicho of the Tenth Division had almost _squeaked_.

"Of course you did," Matsumoto said, smiling knowingly.

He growled, anger quickly returning as he made to get back to his paperwork.

"Ah wait taicho. You have to try this first," she insisted, shaking the bottle in her hand.

"What is that?" he glared suspiciously at the bottle containing murky liquid in her grasp.

"It's some sort of tea-drink thing. Inoue introduced me to it," she beamed before continuing to gush, "She's so knowledgeable about these types of things."

Toshiro, unimpressed raised an eyebrow, "Tea in a bottle?"

"You have to at least try it," Matsumoto pouted as she opened the bottle and poured some into his favorite cup.

Toshiro sighed; he really did not feel like being a test subject for various products from the real world.

"Come on taicho!"

He winced at the voice of his bubbly fukataicho. He sighed again; he would have a little to show appreciation for the gift. He raised the cup to his lips and took a tiny sip. He murmured a quiet 'Oh' in surprise. Even though the drink itself was quite chilly, it made him feel warm and tingly inside.

"This is pretty good," he quietly murmured as he finished his first cup.

Matsumoto beamed at him as she moved to pour him another cup, "See didn't I tell you?"

Toshiro continued to sip at his drink, not even bothering to answer. He could've sworn that with each sip, his headache subsided more. He turned back to his paperwork as Matsumoto poured him another cup, but he found that he did not care about the report with numerous words in front of him.

He felt happy and carefree, something he had not felt ever since he became the taicho of the Tenth Division. As he finished his third cup, he looked up and was captivated by the…spinning? ceiling.

"Taicho are you all right?" Toshiro heard the question but did not respond.

"Another," he slurred. A small part of his mind twitched. Was that really him? It didn't sound like him at all, he thought before brushing that thought away.

"Taicho? Are you ok?" came the same question, this time sounding more concerned.

"Another!" he repeated, this time slamming his fist into the desk.

For a while he heard nothing but rustling, then he heard a small 'Oh'.

The last thing he remembered hearing was a sheepish voice saying, "Erm taicho…I think I gave you the wrong drink…"

* * *

Yeah so you can guess what was in the cup. I dunno what type of drink does not give off a distinct taste or who drinks three cups of tea in a row. So let's not worry about that. 

Look forward to the next chapter. Cheers


	2. The Day After

**So yeah second installment is now up. I was actually supposed to finish this yesterday but since I'm a lazy lazy bum (and because I was watching House) I put it off. Well better late than never right? **

**Oh and I just noticed while writing this chapter that the whole time flow thing isn't very consistent but let's not worry about that. **

**Sorry for the typos and whatnot. I officially really dislike the English language. I mean at least have some consistent rules. Mouse-mice, ok that makes sense. Louse-lice, I think I got the hand of this! House-WTFZ!!!111??? So yeah ingles es not mi amigo. **

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Bleach.**

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Hitsugaya Toshiro, taicho of the Tenth Division woke up with a roaring headache. It was the worst hangover he had ever experienced and the fact that it was the first one he ever experienced made it so much worse.

Toshiro was well acquainted with the 'world of pain', having obtained numerous wounds from hollows and arrancars. There was even that particularly large gash that he received from the former Fifth Division Taicho. However this pain was completely different from all those (now seemingly insignificant) physical injuries. It felt like something had burrowed into his brain and was currently playing with the nerve endings. What was worse was the fact that there was no way to make it better; there was no miraculous bandage that he could slap onto his head and make the pain go away.

Toshiro groaned as he blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus.

'Was the ceiling always that...white?' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes again. The blinding...whiteness of the ceiling served to only aggravate his headache.

He groaned again as he tried to remember what the hell happened the night before. All he could remember was Matsumoto appearing in his office, several hours late for work and...that was all he could remember. He moaned, the whole thought process was too painful and he felt like shit already anyways.

'Oh right Matsumoto gave me some kind of drink...' he recollected, 'Should've realized this had something to do with her...'

He groaned again and winced. He sounded so pitiful that it was sad. He struggled to get up, as lying around wasn't going to do him any good.

'Since when was getting up so difficult...' he mused, his body feeling like lead.

Somehow he managed to sit upright, using his arms to support his weight. One of his hands sank into something unbelievably squishy.

'Eh? When was there a pillow here?' he wondered, head spinning from the sudden change in elevation.

'Why was I not sleeping on this?' he pondered, marveling at its softness while bringing one hand up to hold his head as his other hand gave an involuntary squeeze.

The 'said' pillow gave a soft moan.

Toshiro's eyebrows shot up in surprise. 'What the hell?' Even though Soul Society had some bizarre inventions, he had never once heard about a moaning pillow.

Ignoring his spinning head and the churning in his stomach, he looked down to see what exactly his hand was resting on.

...It looked like a boob. No scratch that. It _was_ a boob.

Now a million questions were racing through his taxed mind; however one popped up as most vital.

'What the hell happened yesterday?'

His eyes traveled up from the massive chest towards the face of person still sleeping next to him. His mind was already formulating a guess on who it was, based on just the sheer size of that bust...it could only be one person...

As his eyes came to rest on wavy strawberry-blonde hair and an almost angelic face complete with a 'beauty spot' just to the right of pink full lips, his suspicions were confirmed.

'MATSUMOTO!!!!' Toshiro yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring who would hear him. He regretted it immediately as the yell sent reverberations throughout his head.

Matsumoto stirred slightly but did not wake.

Toshiro twitched visibly. This was so not how he wanted to start out his day.

'Matsumoto' he hissed, careful to keep his voice down this time. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook gently.

'Hmmm?' she yawned before finally opening her eyes. She gave a sleepy grin while mumbling a 'Good Morning taicho'

Maybe now he could finally get some answers. 'What happened yesterday?' he asked almost urgently.

'Um...you had something and it turned out to be something not...' she trailed off before turning over onto her side and going back to sleep.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook again, _violently. _

'Whaaat?' Matsumoto whined before finally sitting up. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get them to focus.

'I demand to know what happened yesterday,' his voice low, as he stared at her with a steely gaze.

'Um...well...' she fidgeted, feeling trapped under his unwavering gaze.

'And I swear if you make up some ridiculous story and I find out that you were lying, I will make sure that you clean the barracks and the bathrooms _everyday for a whole month_.' he finished stonily, obviously not kidding around.

Matsumoto giggled uneasily while pressing her index fingers together.

'Well?'

'Um ok so what happened was that I gave you a drink and then you drank it and then you got all crazy so I was like what's going on and so it was then that I checked the bottle and it turned out I gave you the wrong drink and that the drink I gave you was something I bought for myself and it might've just might've contained a little bit of alcohol...' Matsumoto rattled off before trailing off.

'Matsumoto...'

'Yes taicho?' Matsumoto asked nervously.

'You got me DRUNK?' anger was evident in Toshiro's voice as his eyes started to glow blue and his reiatsu started to spill out.

'Well I didn't _really_ get you drunk. And it was an accident. Really.' she mumbled, truly uncomfortable now. Even though she never really showed it, she never liked it when her taicho got mad at her. It always made her feel guilty for some reason.

'Ok ok' Toshiro who somehow managed to calm down was now rubbing his temples. His head was still pounding and the rumbling in his stomach wouldn't go away.

'But that's all that happened right?' Toshiro asked, looking up.

'Erm...not quite...' Matsumoto was looking everywhere but where her taicho was.

'Matsumoto...tell me everything that happened' Toshiro's voice retaining its steely tone.

_Flashback_

_Matsumoto Rangiku was not a dumb blonde, even though many people made her out to be one. Sure, she couldn't fill out paperwork if her life depended on it and she wasn't all that great with reading or writing. But she made up for all that with 'street smarts' and quick wits. She always knew when something was wrong and when she noticed her taicho staring absentmindedly at the ceiling, she knew something was amiss. When her taicho had started slurring, her suspicions were confirmed._

_Her first of action was to rummage through the bag from which she had pulled the bottle from. She finally found what she was looking for and pulled out another bottle._

_'Oh shit' she murmured. It was because of incidents like this that people joked about her trading in her brains for her huge rack. _

_'Erm taicho…I think I gave you the wrong drink…" she said in a sheepish voice, turning around to face her taicho._

_The first thing that she noticed when she looked at Hitsugaya's face was that the normally vibrant, intense teal eyes were glazed over. The second thing she noticed was that he was wearing the biggest scowl she had ever seen._

_'Where's my drink?' Toshiro growled while staring at her intently with glazed over eyes._

_'You finished it all, Taicho' Matsumoto replied, stuffing the bottles back into the bag, not wishing to add fuel to the fire. _

_He growled again and attempted to stand up. It took him several tries but he finally managed to get on his feet. He staggered towards the door, zig-zagging back and forth. _

_Matsumoto noted his erratic movements but did not stop him. 'Where are you going taicho?' she quietly inquired. _

_'To get another drink' he slurred, somehow managing to open the door and lurched out._

_'The fresh air will be good for him' she thought as she watched him "walk" off. _

_'Especially since he's...shit...' she silently cursed, the ditsy part of her had forgotten that Toshiro was half-drunk. _

_She hurried after him, knowing that he couldn't have gotten far in his inebriated state. As she exited the tenth division building she heard a commotion happening in the next division. _

_'Shit' she cursed again. It was probably the drinking party that the eleventh division threw every week. Her taicho most likely heard the commotion and went to check it out._

_She shunpo'd there as fast as she could and as she arrived she could hear the unmistakable sounds of fighting going on._

_When she finally reached the eleventh division building, she couldn't help but gape at the scene in front of her. There stood her taicho surrounded by at least a dozen unconscious bodies. She stared as one of the unseated members (obviously drunk) gave a battle cry and rushed at her taicho. She winced as this unfortunate soul went flying through the air, coming to a stop about 20 feet away. _

_'Oi Oi Oi' she heard the unmistakable yells of Ikkaku as he rushed onto the scene 'What's going on here eh?'_

_Toshiro just hiccuped and muttered something about being old enough to drink whatever he wanted to drink._

_Ikkaku finally noticed the tenth division captain as the perpetrator of the beat-down. 'Heya Hitsugaya-taicho. What's going on?'_

_'I need a drink' Toshiro simply grunted. _

_Ikkaku blinked in surprise. It wasn't everyday that Hitsugaya-taicho would be complaining for a drink. In fact it had never happened before. 'Well I would invite ya in but are ya sure yer old enough to...'_

_Before Ikkaku could even finish his inquiry, he found himself on the ground rubbing a smarting nose. _

_With this turn of events Matsumoto finally snapped out of her stupor and moved to drag away her ranting taicho 'I can have whatever I want to drink. I'm no fucking kid! I could kick your ass any day of the week!' _

_She mumbled a quick apology to Ikkaku and half-dragged, half-carried Toshiro out of there._

_'Wha' 'as tha' al' 'bout?' Ikkaku mumbled as he rubbed his, now starting to swell nose. Behind the unmistakable roar of a certain Zaraki Kenpachi could be heard 'What!? Someone challenged the Eleventh Division? Let me at him! I'll rip him into pieces!' _

_Several Minutes Later..._

_'Put me down!' Toshiro said indignantly, flailing wildly, desperate to get out of Matsumoto's grasp. _

_Matsumoto sighed as one of his thrashing limbs almost poked her eye out. She made a mental note to never let Toshiro drink again, he was a mean drunk._

_'Fine' she finally let him go. He stumbled a little but managed to stay up-right. She sighed again, while she was glad that her taicho was more carefree she didn't expect it to be so...tiring._

_'Why is it so fricking hot?' Matsumoto turned around to look at the person who was grumbling. As she turned, the white captain cloak that her taicho always wore hit her in the face. As she bent over to pick the cloak up, another article of clothing hit her head. She looked up to see her taicho completely topless. She gasped and stared appreciatively as the moonlight almost made his skin glow. Even though he was still a growing boy, he had muscles that many men could not attain in their entire lifetime. She stared admiringly as his back muscles rippled as his finely built arms moved to remove his pants..._

_It was at this point that Matsumoto snapped out of it and held him down. Matsumoto was not a women known for her modesty and she would've loved to continue watching her taicho stripping, hell, she would've helped him. However if news about her taicho streaking throughout Seireitei spread, her taicho's reputation would be ruined and he would be pissed off at her for not stopping him. _

_She continued to hold him down until she felt him cease struggling and she finally loosened her bear hug on him. As soon as she loosened her death grip, Toshiro bolted. She gaped in surprise for about ten seconds before gathering his discarded clothes and giving chase. _

_Several hours later..._

_Matsumoto sighed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. She looked down at the prone figure in her arms. She couldn't believe that her serious, up-tight taicho could cause her so much trouble. She had just spent the last few hours chasing after her taicho as he wreaked random acts of destruction and chaos. He had frozen the lake, blew up a lab of the twelfth division, made the training grounds into an icy wonderland, set off a secret box of fireworks Renji had been hiding and even ran over several people including Kira in an attempt to escape from an blood-thirsty Zaraki. _

_She smiled as she looked at his sleeping face, her smile widened as her eyes wandered down to his well-built chest and stomach. Sure she could've put his clothes back on but where was the fun in that? She smiled ruefully, she kind of wished that she had let Toshiro continue stripping. At least that way she would've gotten something out of this evening. _

_She finally arrived at his sleeping quarters and after finding the key in his captain's cloak, opened the door. She tucked him in and was actually about to leave when she realized just how tired she was._

_'My quarters are too far away' she thought 'He shouldn't get too mad since I did look after him. I was the one who got him drunk in the first place but that's a different story.' _

_Matsumoto confirmed that her argument was air-tight and climbed into bed next to her taicho. _

_'At least I hope he doesn't get too mad...' she thought as she snuggled closer to her taicho and drifted off to sleep. _

Toshiro's face went through various expressions throughout the recap that Matsumoto gave. His face was flushed red when she was told him about his 'strip-tease' and he had an expression of despair as he heard about the random acts of destruction that he committed. He was gonna have to do a whole lot of explaining for this whole fiasco.

At the end of the whole Toshiro had his eyes shut and was massaging his temples 'But that was it right? Nothing else happened?' he asked hoping he had not let something slip in his drunken stupor.

Matsumoto suddenly had an evil glint in her eyes, but Toshiro did not notice this. 'Maybe I _can_ get something out of this' she mused. Sure, he wouldn't believe it if she told him that he had said she wouldn't have to do paperwork ever again but something simpler would probably work.

'Well there was this one thing...' she started before trailing off.

'What was it?' he demanded, thinking that one more incident couldn't make things that much worse.

'You asked me out and I accepted!' she beamed at him after rattling off her answer.

Toshiro froze. He turned slowly towards her and was about to ask her to repeat what she had just said when the rumbling in his stomach intensified. Even though he had never had a hangover before, he knew this was not good.

Hitsugaya Toshiro set a record that day for the fastest shunpo with a hangover.

* * *

**Fun stuff. Next chapter should be when the HitsuMatsu action actually starts, so look forward to that.**

**Also since I'm new to this whole fan-fiction stuff, can anyone explain to me all these acronyms and whatnot? **

**Also I have no idea what the clothes girls wear are called, so I actually have to do research for the next chapter so don't blame me if it seems just a bit choppy.**

**Anyways look forward to it. Cheers **

**Oh to make it clear, this fanfic does not promote drinking. Alcohol is bad for you, only drink in controlled quantities. You will _not _be waking up with a smoking hot blonde in your bed if you do get drunk. **


	3. The Vacation?

**Thanks for the reviews everyone! They make me feel warm and tingly :D **

**I just noticed that I have an inconsistency when referring to the characters by name so from now everyone will be called by their last name unless they're a special case or whatnot. **

**I'm sorry that this update is somewhat late since I was planning on finishing this a few days back but I got swamped with schoolwork. I have 3 projects due and 2 tests to study for this week.**

**I'm also sorry that I lied. It's true I did. This chapter turned out to be longer than I expected so no real HitsuMatsu here. Sorry guys :(**

**Disclaimer: Bleach is not the mine.**

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Hitsugaya Toshiro exited the bathroom with a face as green as his eyes. He could still taste the sour aftertaste of bile in his mouth and it made him want to hurl again. The one thing he always wondered about was how shinigami could get sick; they were freaking dead already. 

He groaned as he finally felt the rumbling in his stomach subside. Now all he needed to do was to get rid of his killer headache. He thought about asking Matsumoto if she had a hangover cure since she was drunk all the time.

"Matsumoto..." he suddenly remembered the whole conversation they just had and how it had ended.

"Shit...what the hell am I suppose to do about that..." Hitsugaya might've been called a child genius but he was naive and uneducated in the ways of love. Even if he wasn't, the whole situation was abnormal. He was drunk when he asked her, in fact he wasn't even sure that he had asked her. The whole question itself was ambiguous. Did 'asking her out' mean like out on a date or like 'we're boyfriend/girlfriend' out?

He sighed "I'll have to clear it up with her somehow. Tell her it was a mistake."

All the thinking he was doing had caused the pounding to resume in earnest. "Later," he decided, "I'll swing by the Fourth Division and see if Unohana-taicho has a cure for hangovers..."

* * *

As Toshiro approached the Fourth division building, he noticed the palish blue hair of the Fourth's fukataicho. 

"Isane-fukataicho!" he called to catch her attention as he rushed up to her, "Is Unohana-taicho in?"

Isane turned around and looked him over almost appraisingly before turning back again and called over her shoulder "Come this way Hitsugaya-taicho."

One of Toshiro's eyebrows disappeared into his silvery-white hair. "What was that about?" he murmured as he followed after her.

Isane led Hitsugaya to Unohana's office and announced his arrival, "Hitsugaya-taicho is here to see you Unohana-taicho" before she excused herself.

Unohana's calm voice came floating out "Come in Hitsugaya-taicho."

Hitsugaya entered and slid the door shut behind him. Unohana took one look at him and her eyebrows rose slightly in concern, "What's wrong?"

Hitsugaya gave a quick recap of the happenings of the day before, leaving out several 'minor' details. Unohana said nothing throughout his 'report' but just stared at him placidly. Hitsugaya was throughly uncomfortable by the time he finished summing up his disastrous day. He was staring at the floor and had to stop himself from scuffing his foot of the floor, "So do you have anything that can cure a hangover?"

Unohana remained silent but stood up and left the room only to return several minutes later with a bottle of murky purplish liquid. "Drink that" she said while handing him the bottle.

Hitsugaya grimaced as he took the bottle from her. The liquid looked positively radioactive.

"Am I supposed to drink this?" he asked with a face of disgust.

"Yes" came the matter-of-fact answer.

As mature as Hitsugaya was, he was still in some aspects very much like a kid. One of the things he hated most was taking medicine. The last time that he got sick, he wouldn't take his cold medicine at all and Matsumoto had to travel all the way to the real world to pick up some watermelon flavored kids cold medicine(he threatened to kill her if she told anyone and of course she being Matsumoto, told anyways.)

He glared at the bottle as though as if he could absorb the medicine's potency through his eyes. He sighed as he realized that it wouldn't work and that there was no other method. He popped open the bottle and with a look of utter horror, took a sip.

He gagged and threw up a little in his mouth. The drink tasted like a mix of vegetables that sat out in the sun for too long and started to rot and there was a chunk of some mysterious substance that he choked down.

"All of it" came the motherly tone of Unohana.

Hitsugaya groaned and shut his eyes and swallowed the remaining contents of the bottle. He shuddered and prayed to god that it wouldn't come back up. When he confirmed that the contents of the bottle would remain in his stomach, he realized that the medicine had an immediate effect. His headache already started to fade away and even though the potion left a bitter taste in his mouth, he felt his nausea also disappearing.

Hitsugaya gave a short bow and thanked Unohana for the medicine and apologized for taking up her time; he was about to leave when he was stopped by Unohana.

"Since you're here already, why not have your annual examination now?" Unohana said lightly.

Hitsugaya was about to protest but then realized her impeccable logic and he grudgingly sat down. Unohana ran him through all the usual tests and jotted down the results.

She looked quite concerned when she reported his results to him. "Height: 155 cm Weight: 55 kg Eyesight: 200/20. Nothing wrong here, you're growing quite normally and your eyesight is as sharp as ever. However your blood pressure's through the roof and your muscles show strain from over-use. I'm also very concerned about this slight erratic heartbeat I hear. You need some rest, here's a note for your week-long break. I recommend you go visit the real world to get away from the hustle and bustle of Soul Society."

Hitsugaya gaped at the note she just handed him, "But-but I can't take a vacation. There's so much work to be done and we're short-staffed as it is" he managed to sputter out.

"I will make arrangements with Yamamoto-soutaicho to have your work distributed among the other divisions and I assure you that we can handle it." she calmly said, ignoring the wild gestures of the fuming Tenth Division captain.

Hitsugaya was about to express his dissent at being forced to go on vacation when he noticed Unohana giving him her famous stern glare(the one that coupled with her chilling smile was enough to make even Kenpachi listen to orders)

"Yes Unohana-taicho. I'll make sure get some rest." he said dutifully.

"Good. You are dismissed Hitsugaya-taicho." she gave him a small smile. Hitsugaya marveled at the way she could change her mood so quickly without changing her expression much.

* * *

Hitsugaya spent the rest of the day clearing up the mess that he created the day before. The clearing of the ice was easy enough and the damage that he did to some of the buildings could be fixed easily. The apology to the Eleventh Division went well, even though Ikkaku looked slightly irked due to the fact he was knocked off his feet by a inebriated man a full head shorter than him. But the quiet discussion soon went out the window with the arrival of Kenpachi who nearly took Hitsugaya's head off with one swipe. Hitsugaya barely managed to get away in one piece as Kenpachi roared, held back by Ikkaku and a dozen shinigami "Challenge the Eleventh Division will he? I'll cut that shrimp open!" 

The rest of the day went the same way for Hitsugaya. He was glad that the sadistic Twelfth Division taicho was not present and Nemu accepted his apology. He managed to patch up most of the incidents that he had caused and slowly trudged back to the Tenth Division building.

Now the only issue he had to deal with was the one involving Matsumoto. "What do I tell her? That I was...no...there's no way it would...she wouldn't accept that...it would look bad?"

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice the hulking shadow that fell on him until he crashed into the obstacle that was in his way.

"Sorry about that" Hitsugaya mumbled rubbing his nose. He looked up, to be greeted by the sight of a pink haori and a straw hat "Kyoraku-taicho?"

Kyoraku stared at him solemnly with his chocolate brown eyes, before he broke out in a huge grin and clapped Hitsugaya on the back nearly toppling him over. "Good for you. Good for you" he muttered before staggering off, chortling "Shows that I still have a chance"

Hitsugaya was utterly confused and decided it was just the ramblings of a drunk man. He heard rustling, and Nanao the Eighth's fukataicho appeared in front of him. "Did you see..." Hitsugaya pointed in the direction the half-drunk man had just stumbled off to. She turned to head off in the direction he pointed out before turning her head back and fixing him with a serious glare. "Good luck" she merely stated before shunpoing away.

Hitsugaya was dumbfounded as he tried to work out what she meant by those simple two words. He gave up after a while and started to make his way back to headquarters again.

"TOSHIROOO!"

Hitsugaya twitched, there were only a handful of people who called him by his first name. He turned around to see the other white-haired taicho rushing up to him.

"Good evening Ukitake-taicho" Hitsugaya greeted him, praying to god that Ukitake wasn't here to give him more candy.

He was surprised to see the normally cheerful albeit sickly taicho looking at him forlornly. He was even more surprised when Ukitake burst out in tears and sobbed "My little Shiro-chan is growing up so fast". If Hitsugaya was on the Internet he would've been wtf-ing all over the place but all he could do was stare and gape. Ukitake shoved something into his hands and Hitsugaya could only make out something about 'being safe' before he walked away still bawling his eyes out.

Hitsugaya was stunned by the tumultuous turn of events. "What the hell is going on?" looking down at the object Ukitake had shoved into his hands. It was a colorful box and in big bold letters on the top read _Latex Condoms_. His eyes bulged as he nearly dropped the said item. He gave a quick look-around to see if anyone saw him and stuffed the box into his cloak.

He hurried back to his quarters not wanting to encounter anyone else. He did however notice the looks of admiration and the looks of anger people were shooting him.

He rushed into his room and shut the door; he turned around to see...

"Matsumoto...what are you doing here?" he asked quietly. He was surprised that he did not feel angry.

"Oh um you know..."noticing the confused look on Hitsugaya's face, she stopped giving her half-hearted explanation "What's wrong?"

"I-I dunno..." he admitted "It's just been a really weird day."

He proceed to talk about how his examination went, how his attempts to clear things up went and the weird encounters he had just experienced, "...and Ukitake even gave me a box of..." seeing Matsumoto's inquiring look, he realized who he was talking to and decided to drop the matter.

"I really dunno what's going on..." he finished lamely.

"Um..hehe...about those people" Matsumoto started with a sheepish laugh.

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. He did not like the sound of that laugh, "Do you know something about this Matsumoto?"

"I just might've told a few people about you asking me out...Sorry" she said apologetically.

Hitsugaya twitched and he had to force himself to calm down. 'No matter, it doesn't matter. I'm glad Unohana is making me go on that vacation. I'll be gone for a week and everything will smooth over.' he thought to himself.

He opened his eyes and found himself strangely relaxed. It was then that he noticed the rather large bag/suitcase that Matsumoto was clutching.

"What's that for?" he asked tentatively.

"Oh I heard about Unohana-taicho making you take a vacation from Isane and so I'm going with you! I already got permission from the higher-ups and everything and I got someone to cover for me" she beamed at him.

People two divisions over could hear the anguished yells of Hitsugaya Toshiro.

"Damn he gets right to it" Kyoraku murmured while knocking back another cup of sake, barely listening to Nanao berate him about running around drunk.

* * *

**Some characters may seem a little out of character so I apologize for that. I need some room to work with so you know 'shrugs' I just realized it would make more sense if Kyoraku gave Toshiro the box. Or would it? I dunno / **

**Next chapter will be better I promise. I'll update as soon as I have some time.**

**Happy Chinese New Year to those that celebrate it. Cheers**


	4. The First Night

**First off I would like to profusely apologize to those who actually follow this fic. I'm really sorry for leaving you without an update for nearly 2 weeks. My excuses are that I was swamped with work since it was the end of a semester, and that I caught a flu which meant that I had to take like 5 tests in one day, the day I got back. **

**I would've worked on this when I was in bed but my parents took away my laptop claiming that radiation makes you heal slower. **

**So an extra-long update as an apology. Dunno if its better or worse than previous chapters so read at your own discretion. Read and Review :D**

**Disclaimer: Three guesses to what I don't own**

* * *

Hitsugaya stood there, hands shoved in his pockets as he stared at the building directly across him. He heard squeals of delight and he didn't need to turn around to know that Matsumoto was busy glomping the benevolent human girl known as Orihime Inoue.

"M-matsumoto-san" he could hear the surprised gasps of the taken-back girl. "What are you doing here?"

"Hitsugaya and I are here on vacation. We were hoping we could crash here" Matsumoto squealed, finally loosening her death grip on Orihime.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you" Hitsugaya growled, not bothering to turn around.

"But I can't call you that here, people will think it's weird" Matsumoto whined, crossing her arms across her massive chest.

"Oh Hitsugaya-kun is here too?" Orihime inquired, sticking her head out of the doorway to peer at the white-headed taicho.

Hitsugaya turned around slightly and muttered a 'Yo' while giving a small semi-wave.

"How come she can call you that and you don't say anything?" Matsumoto was absolutely pouting now.

Hitsugaya had to fight back a small smile; she was so cute when she pouted like that. 'Wait...what?' he caught himself before he went too far. He couldn't have those type of thoughts about his fukataicho.

He sighed and in his most patient voice explained to her "She's not a shinigami therefore ranks do not apply to her. You on the other hand are my fukataicho and I am your taicho."

Matsumoto was about to argue back when Orihime interrupted, wishing to pacify the situation.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you grew taller!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Hitsugaya merely grunted at her acute observation. It was true, he had grown taller, in fact he had to get a new gigai since the old one didn't fit him anymore.

"Well, come on in, no sense in standing out here" the bubbly human girl cheerful said.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto grabbed their bags and followed Orihime into her apartment.

"Sorry for intruding" Hitsugaya apologized as he set his bags down next to the couch.

"Oh, it's no problem. I live here alone anyways and it gets lonely sometimes even though Ichigo and the others visit time to time." Orihime replied.

"Ichigo eh? How are things going between you two?" Matsumoto inquired, curious as to how the relationship between the two was progressing.

"Um...oh...it's nothing like that" the flustered girl blushed fiercely.

"Don't pry into other people's business" Hitsugaya drawled while looking around him, taking in his surroundings. The few times that he had 'stayed' here, he had never been inside Orihime's flat, he had always slept on the roof.

Matsumoto gave a small humph and Orihime gave him a grateful look.

"Erm well you guys can go freshen up while I go get started on dinner" Orihime said with a small smile.

"Yay I really need a bath, I feel all hot and sticky" Matsumoto fanned herself "Wanna join me taicho?"

"No thanks" Hitsugaya grunted, turning away to hide the blush that was creeping up his cheeks.

"Awww...suit yourself" Matsumoto sounded disappointed but skipped off towards the bathroom.

Hitsugaya just stood there; he was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do. He never had a lot of free time. Normally around this time he would be doing paperwork and wondering where Matsumoto was. However now he had no stacks of reports in front of him and he knew exactly where Matsumoto was.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you can watch some tv if you want. It's that box thingy in front of the couch. Just hit the button that says power" Orihime's voice came floating in from the kitchen.

Hitsugaya grumbled, he didn't like the motherly tone in Orihime's voice. It made him feel like a kid who didn't know what to do. He went over and examined the said tv, he quickly found out how is worked and settled down on the couch and started channel surfing.

"How come Soul Society doesn't have these shows, even though we have technology more advanced than this" Hitsugaya mused as he finally stopped on a special on arctic animals.

Hitsugaya soon found himself entranced with vivid clips of polar bears hunting seals and he did not notice the soft plodding of someone behind him.

Matsumoto exited the bathroom clad only in a tiny towel as she had realized that she forgot to take out a change of clothes from her bags. She made her way to the couch where the bags were set. She noticed the bags and was about to rummage through them when she noticed her taicho sitting cross-legged on the couch.

He was staring intently at the tv, eyes wide open in fascination with his mouth slightly open in a small 'o' shape. He looked so glompable that Matsumoto couldn't help but clap her hands together and utter a "Aww...so cute"

Hitsugaya snapped out of his stupor at the sound of a clap and he turned around to see who it was, with a very uncharacteristic 'Huh?' slipping out from his lips.

Hitsugaya's eyes came to rest on the figure of Matsumoto which was only clad in a towel. Matsumoto was never very modest when it came to her attire but this was too much(or too little).

The top half of her breasts could be seen and towel barely covered her well-rounded butt. Every inch of her elegant, delectable and _long_ legs could be seen.

Hitsugaya found himself staring at those _fine _legs and had to shake his head violently to get his head out of the gutter.

"Put some damn clothes on" he growled, hoping she wouldn't notice the faint tinge of red that he knew was appearing on his cheeks.

Matsumoto cocked her head, confused by her taicho's seemingly strange behavior.

"Oh I was but then I saw you and you looked _soooo cute _that I just had to stop and admire your cuteness" Matsumoto had a smile that could probably be seen several miles away.

"I am _not_ cute" Hitsugaya grumbled, running his hand through hair, "and start dressing already!"

"You know, it's not a bad thing when a girl calls you cute _and _most men would pay tons to see what you get to see for free."

"Well I'm not like most men."

"No,no you're not" Matsumoto said this so softly that Hitsugaya couldn't hear her clearly.

"What's that?" Hitsugaya finally turned to face her, intrigued by what she could've said. Facing her, he found himself staring again. Looking over her scantily clad figure he noticed that...

"Matsumoto! Your towel!" Hitsugaya rushed forward desperate to keep that little piece of material doing what it was suppose to do:cover Matsumoto's body.

"Dinner's ready!" Orihime's head popped out of the kitchen, searching for Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. She was quite taken back by the scene she saw. There stood Hitsugaya on the couch with one hand on each of Matsumoto's boobs, his jaw was slack and he was red as a tomato. Matsumoto was just standing there, not even bothering to cover herself up, with both hands thrown back in surprise. The towel was all but forgotten on the ground.

"Oh I didn't know you guys were in the middle of something. I'll give you some time to finish up." the throughly embarrassed human girl retreated back into the kitchen.

"What? No! It's not what you think!" Hitsugaya was tripping over himself, trying to follow Orihime to explain the whole situation.

"You know, you could've just asked taicho" Matsumoto had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"What?! That was an accident!" Hitsugaya turned back, "OH MY GOD! PUT SOME GODDAM CLOTHES ON!" and he rushed out of the living room.

* * *

Hitsugaya warily eyed the dish in front of him. "What the hell is this?" he asked, prodding the strange concoction with a chopstick. 

"It's Italian style spaghetti with meatloaf and whipped cream. It's one of my new inventions. If you don't like that I have red bean curry!" Orihime looked so excited that Hitsugaya almost felt bad for asking his next question.

"Is it even edible?" Hitsugaya ignored the fact that Matsumoto(now dressed in a plain pink t-shirt and pale yellow shorts) was stuffing her face in a manner that greatly contrasted the way she looked.

"Um if you don't like it I can always make some ramen or something for you" Orihime looked as though her best friend had just died.

"Ah, no I'm sure it's delicious" Hitsugaya stammered. There were only several things that Hitsugaya couldn't stand and one of them was the sight of a sad/crying women.

Hitsugaya continued poking at his food for another minute before finally taking his chopsticks and picking up a few strands of spaghetti. He took a tentative bite, expecting the taste to be too 'exotic' for his palette.

"Hrmm..this is pretty good" Hitsugaya was genuinely surprised to find that the dish did not taste as weird as it sounded or looked.

Orihime didn't say anything but just beamed at him. It did not take long for Hitsugaya to finish his food, even though he did not eat as fast or as messily as Matsumoto.

"Thanks for the food" Hitsugaya set down his chopsticks and was about to leave the table when Orihime stopped him.

"Wait there's still dessert."

"Dessert?"

"Yeah we have cake!"

Hitsugaya tensed considerably and managed a stiff "I'm not one for sweets."

"Aww...come on taicho. I'll feed you!" Matsumoto's cheerful voice cut in.

Hitsugaya stiffened even further and could only utter a terse "No thanks" and exited the dining room.

Matsumoto and Orihime just looked at each other and shrugged.

"So...where's the cake?"

* * *

Hitsugaya was channel-surfing when Orihime and Matsumoto came out of the dining room, chatting about clothes and other things girls talk about. 

"Oh um Hitsugaya-kun there's one little problem"

"What is it?" Hitsugaya asked not even bothering to turn around.

"I only have one extra futon so I don't know what the sleeping arrangements are" Orihime explained rather awkwardly.

"Oh what's the problem? Taicho can sleep with me!" Matsumoto chimed

"No"

"Aww...why not taicho?"

"No just no. I'll sleep on the roof."

"But you can't do that. Unohana-taicho said you need rest and sleeping on the roof does not qualify as rest."

"Fine I'll sleep on the couch"

"You can't do that either"

"Why the hell not? You do it all the time back at the office."

"Those are naps. This is completely different."

"How is it any different?"

"It just is"

Hitsugaya knew he was fighting a losing battle and he was smart enough to know when to give up on a fight he couldn't win.

"Fine you win"

"Really?"

"Yes really" came the disgruntled reply.

"Yay! I promise I'll try to not crush you taicho."

'It's not that, that I'm worried about' Hitsugaya thought to himself.

"Now get off" Hitsugaya growled, shaking off Matsumoto who had jumped on him the minute he announced defeat, "I need a shower."

"Can I-"

"No!"

Hitsugaya grabbed a change of clothes and entered the bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind him lest a certain frisky fukataicho tried to sneak in.

He turned on the cold water full blast and sighed. He was going to need it.

Hitsugaya enjoyed the cold shower immensely. It was refreshing and helped clear his head. He quickly changed into his sleepwear which consisted of a simple soccer jersey and pajama bottoms decorated with pictures of watermelons which Matsumoto bought for him.

He grumbled and grouched when he saw it for the first time and when Matsumoto tried to get him to wear it for the first time. But he had to admit, it was surprisingly comfortable.

As he exited the bathroom, he realized that he was actually tired, a side-effect from hanging around Matsumoto for too long.

He could hear the raucous sounds of a game show coming from the living room and he figured that the girls were still watching tv.

He padded his way to the spare bedroom, figuring that if he went to bed first there wouldn't be as many awkward situations. Of course, he did not realize the fatal flaw in his reasoning and he was too tired to over-analyze the whole issue.

Hitsugaya fluffed up his pillow and groaned as he slid under the sheets. The bed felt like a gift from heaven. It had been so long since the last time he was in a real bed. Normally he fell asleep at his desk or when he had the energy, dragged himself to the couch for a power nap.

He curled up into a corner of the bed, unconsciously remembering that he was sharing a bed and couldn't take up too much room. He felt his eyelids growing heavy and soon his half-lidded eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The door creaked slightly as it was opened and Matsumoto walked in, still chuckling over a childish joke the host had told. She scanned the room, trying to find her taicho so she could tell the joke to him. 

Her eyes came to rest on the small, prone figure lying on the bed. She treaded softly over to the side of the bed and she smiled as she observed the sleeping face of her taicho.

He looked so peaceful, like he didn't have a single worry in the world. A few strands of his snowy hair fell across his face and they moved in time with his breathing, going out on the exhale, in on the inhale.

A small smile flickered across Hitsugaya's face and Matsumoto wondered what he was dreaming about.

She sighed and began to change into her sleeping clothes. As she changed, her mind started wandering. She thought about many things, most of them pertaining to the icy taicho who was currently sleeping peacefully.

She wondered when she had actually fallen for the serious, vertically-challenged Tenth Division taicho. They had so many good memories together(even though Hitsugaya might not consider some of them 'good'). She remembered the first day she found out he was her new taicho. Her eyes glazed over as she relived that moment.

_When she was told that the Tenth division was getting a new taicho, she expected a middle-aged man who would undoubtedly hit on her and expect her to sleep with him, simply because he was a taicho and therefore had certain "privileges". _

_So she dreaded the moment when the order came, telling her to greet her new taicho. _

_She hung outside the door of the office for a while, trying to hear what her new taicho sounded like._

"_If you have some business concerning me, come in. If not, kindly stop hanging outside the door." a deep, stern voice broke her concentration, causing her to jump up in surprise._

_Matsumoto tentatively opened the door and stuck her head inside, trying to catch a glimpse of her new taicho before deciding whether or not she wanted to enter._

_But the only person she could see was a familiar-looking, white-haired boy sitting behind the desk. Suddenly she realized that it was the same boy that she had recruited into the Gotei 13. _

"_What do you want?" he demanded in the same stern tone, shooting her an icy glare. _

_With a squeal of 'Oh you look so cute' she rushed to him and introduced him to her famous bust._

"_What are you doing?" he managed to gasp out while unsuccessfully trying to extricate himself from the death hug. _

"_Don't you remember me?" Matsumoto asked, loosening her the grip the tiniest bit._

"_Of course I do" he growled, "Matsumoto...san" he added as an afterthought. "You're the person responsible for me signing up here. And that I thank you for that. Now if you can do me another favor, kindly release me." _

_Matsumoto finally let go of the tiny, irate boy. "So you made it into the Tenth Division. Why are you here in the taicho's office?" _

"_I believe I asked you first" he retorted, quirking a thin brow at her. _

"_I'm here to meet the new taicho." She replied, making a big show of looking around the room. "It was a nice surprise to see you here." she added. _

"_Oh I see," he murmured. "Well he's busy right now. So if you can come back later that would be great." he stated, returning to the stacks of paperwork. _

"_Oh ok. Well it was nice seeing you." she started towards the door. Suddenly she turned around and planted both hands on the desk, "Hey. Do you know what the new taicho is like?" _

_The boy was startled by the blonde's sudden movements. He looked up to look upon her face, a small twitch already starting in his temple. _

"_Well, he's a man of utmost patience, he has unusual physical features, he's strict, he goes by his own ideals, he dislikes slackers, and he extremely dislikes being disturbed when he is working." _

"_Oh man...he sounds like a real stickler. Here I was hoping for a new drinking buddy. Is he at least good-looking?"_

_The boy's brows furrowed at this comment, "I guess it depends on your point-of-view. His stature...leaves a bit too be desired." _

"_Oh...so he's a real shortie." she commented, not noticing the death glare the boy was shooting her._

_The boy sighed, breaking Matsumoto out of her musings. "Well, seeing as it is almost time for lunch, I guess the taicho can see you now." _

"_Oh really? Where is he?" she turned to face the boy. A fluttering of cloth could be heard and she gaped as she stared at the boy who was now garbed in the traditional captain's cloak. _

_He smirked and stuck out a hand "Hitsugaya Toshiro, Taicho of the Tenth Division. Nice to meet you."_

_Matsumoto finally managed to get her mouth working again and she spluttered out, "You can't be the taicho...You're just a kid!"_

_Hitsugaya twitched visibly at this "I assure you my qualifications are more than adequate for this job" he ground out. _

_Matsumoto noticed the temperature dropped several degrees and that her taicho's eyes were starting to glow. She realized that she was in a dangerous position and managed a sheepish "It was nice to meet you taicho." before running out of the room. _

Sure, their relationship had gotten off to a rough start, but it got better over time...more or less. She remembered the first time he had to come pick her up because she was so tipsy. His face was filled with concern and he carried her home made sure she was comfortable before leaving. It was true that after Hitsugaya found out it was a regular thing, he got pissed but even then he would pick her up when she was too drunk to walk(which wasn't often).

She remembered the first time he risked his life to save hers. A giant Hollow had jumped out from nowhere with the intent to kill and Hitsugaya blocked it using his arm, dispatching it quickly with a simple stab. His first concern was making sure if she was alright, not even bothering with his own wound. He had saved her multiple times after that and vice versa as well. No matter what you said about their polar opposite personalities, they were a good team.

She remembered how he always comforted her when she was down which didn't happen often but did happen once in a while nevertheless. Especially after Gin had left.

She sighed. Gin...How was it that two taichos from the same Gotei 13 could be so different?

Hitsugaya was the one who was there when you needed him. Gin was there when he felt like being there. Hitsugaya would either outright denies you what you want or he would grudgingly agreed. Gin would dangle what you wanted in front of your face before taking it away. Hitsugaya treated her like a person. Gin treated her as a form of entertainment.

She liked Gin simply because since he had saved her and was her first 'true friend'. She liked Hitsugaya because he had the qualities that she looked for in a man.

She sighed again as she pondered her predicament. How in the world was she suppose to deal with this situation? How was she suppose to reveal her true feelings to her taicho?

It was partly her fault since she flirted with her taicho so often that he had grown immune to it and so he tended to ignore her when she was actually subtly hinting at her true feelings for him.

It was also partly his fault since he barely seemed to acknowledge the existence of the opposite sex and he seemed to be immune to certain aspects of the female body.

"I mean seriously...he definitely hit puberty at least and still these babies don't affect him" she murmured, hoisting her boobs up and out.

'Oh well, I have a whole week to figure that out' she though, sliding under the sheets next to her taicho. Hitsugaya stirred a little but didn't wake. Matsumoto sidled up to his back and wrapped one arm around his body. Thinking of new ways she could use to seduce the icy boy, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**I promise to have at least one more update this week so until then Cheers.**

**Press that button under this text you know you want to.**


	5. Of Flowers And Condoms?

**Argh. Sorry guys. I got caught up with my other fic and I had writer's block for this fic so hence the late update. Not that long of an update since I can't really seem to think of great ideas for this right now. But anyways enjoy.**

* * *

Bright sunlight fell on boy's face as his lids fluttered open. He uttered a groan as the light blinded him for a few moments. He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn.

Hitsugaya felt well-rested, a feeling he did not experience often. He tried to get up so he could stretch out the crick in his neck but found that he was held back by something.

Looking down, he noticed a thin arm wrapped around his torso. A thin arm that belonged to a certain Matsumoto Rangiku.

Hitsugaya growled and was just about to shake her awake and fully berate her when he noticed her sleeping face.

He sighed, it was little things like this that melted his icy demeanor. He gently removed her arm and got out of bed.

_So you do like her _the icy voice of Hyorinmaru rumbled in his head.

_What are you talking about? When did I ever say that? _Hitsugaya replied crossly, still not used to his zanpatou randomly voicing his opinion.

_Heh _the dragon snorted _Don't be so arrogant boy, I'm as part of you as your right arm is. I know your feelings, probably even better than you do. _

_Will you stop your blathering, before I decide to stick you in an oven? _Hitsugaya shot back, shrugging off his sleeping clothes and pulling on a t-shirt.

_Fine, but I'm telling you the best way to deal with this is to get her somewhere secluded and just bang the- _

_SHUT UP! _

_As you wish. But I'm just saying..._the rumbling of the icy dragon subsided and left behind a very flustered and irritated boy.

The boy decided a walk would clear his head and maybe get rid of the flush on his face. He stepped out into the hallway, enjoying the quiet of the early morning. The floorboards creaked as he headed towards the door. Sensing no stir in the small flat, he let himself out and closed the door behind him.

He inhaled, the crisp, morning air filling his lungs. He could hear the chirps of sparrows and the rustle of the trees in the light breeze.

He smiled, a rare sight. Kankura Town really was an ideal vacation place, even though it was usually infested with Hollows and had constant, supernatural problems.

'Might as well stop by Kurosaki's place and see how things are going here.' he thought, starting towards the house of a certain orange-haired, shinigami representative.

He started his leisurely pace towards the Kurosaki clinic, taking time to admire the scenery. The quaint houses made him wonder what his previous life was like. He smiled ruefully, Kurosaki really did have the best of both worlds. He was granted the power of the shinigami, able to protect those important to him and he also had his real body, able to go to school and live a normal teenage life.

He sighed as he came to a stop in front of the place the Kurosaki household called home. He slowly walked up to the door and knocked. He hoped to God that it would not be Kurosaki's eccentric father answering.

"Hitsugaya-taicho?" Hitsugaya looked up in surprise to see someone he was not expecting.

"Kuchiki-san?" he fixed her with a piercing stare "What are you doing here?"

"O-oh um me? I'm keeping a watch over the town." she smiled nervously.

Hitsugaya decided to ignore the seemingly suspicious situation. "Is Kurosaki here?"

"Um yes. He's in his room."

"I see. Sorry for intruding." he entered, kicking off his shoes. He was led to Kurosaki's room by Kuchiki and opened the door to find the orange-haired teenager lying on his bed reading some type of manga.

"Really. Is this how you spend your free time?"

Ichigo looked up from his manga at the sound of the new voice.

"Oh, hey Toshiro. What's up?"

A small vein pulsed in Hitsugaya's forehead. "It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you, Kurosaki"

Ichigo sat up, dismissing the irate captain with a few waves of his hand, "So what you doing here?"

Hitsugaya sighed; time to tell of his unfortunate situation. "Believe it or not I'm actually here on vacation-"

Ichigo snorted, "You on vacation? Aren't you like in love with your paperwork or something?"

Hitsugaya glared at the orange-haired boy crossly, irritated by the interruption. Ichigo threw his hands up apologetically, "Sorry, go on."

Hitsugaya cleared his throat, "As I was saying I'm here on vacation since Unohana-taicho ordered me to. So I decided to visit here to see how things are holding up on your end."

Ichigo scratched his head and shrugged, "Things are quiet. Haven't seen much action. The other shinigami stationed here usually get to the hollows before I do. So you're here alone? Where you staying?"

Hitsugaya sat on the floor cross-legged and stared out the window. "No, I came with Matsumoto. I'm residing at Inoue Orihime's house."

Ichigo glanced at the white-haired boy who seemed to be more interested with the scenery outside. It made sense, Hitsugaya rarely went anywhere without his fukataicho and Inoue's place was the reasonable choice. There was one thing that he was wondering about though.

"Was that all you came here for? Seems like a lot of trouble for such a little thing."

Hitsugaya flinched, startled by Ichigo's 'keen insight'. He glanced at Kuchiki who was sitting in the closet, reading a shoujo manga. He contemplated whether or not he should send her out so he could talk to Ichigo about a potentially embarrassing situation. He decided against it, figuring since she was a girl she might have some interesting insight.

He cleared his throat, his normally pale face taking on a pinkish hue. "Ehem. There was one other matter...I wished to inquire about."

"What is it?" Ichigo was curious. Was Hitsugaya blushing?

"Um. W-what does a guy do on a d-date?" He, Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the tenth division, wielder of the strangest ice-water zanpatou was _stammering_.

The room grew strangely quiet. Even the birds outside stopped chirping. Ichigo looked at Hitsugaya strangely and Rukia peered over the edge of her manga to look at the blushing captain.

"Why you wanna know about that? You got a girlfriend or something?"

"No! I-it's just that I was wondering..."

"Who's the lucky girl?" Rukia piped up from her closet. This was way better than the manga in her hands.

Hitsugaya was able to glare at her and tell her to mind her own business when he stopped himself. He was clueless about this kind of stuff and he wasn't about to throw away his one lifeline just because of his pride. "I-it's just someone I know."

"So you do have a girlfriend."

"No! It's just someone...I know." Hitsugaya finished rather lamely.

"Is it Momo-chan?"

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth. "No it isn't."

"Then who is it?"

Hitsugaya had to try his hardest to not explode, "Why does it matter?"

"Well, it usually depends on the type of girl to decide where you take her on a date." Ichigo replied sagely, sounding as if he was an expert on love.

"Yup, yup" Rukia nodded her head enthusiastically.

Hitsugaya was caught by his conflicting emotions. Should he tell them? But if word got out about Matsumoto and him in an illicit relationship even more, things could turn ugly. There was not knowing what Yamamoto-soutaicho would do. So he decided for the time being, he would keep his mouth shut.

"It doesn't matter" he stated firmly. "Just tell me some places where I could take a date."

"Um...I guess you could go to the zoo or something? Amusement parks are good, too. I think there's a festival happening close to here. Movies or shows are good first date places too."

"Take her out to nice place to eat! Buy her flowers or jewelry. Don't forget how good she looks." Rukia was really getting into it.

"Erm..yeah. You're gonna have to spruce up a little. Raggy t-shirts won't cut it."

"You could even take her shopping!"

Ichigo groaned, "No respectable guy wants to go shopping on a date."

"Well they should. You should hold her hand!"

"And walk her home after the date."

"And if she's happy with the date, you could get a kiss!"

"If she's _really_ happy, don't forget to use protection. _Ow,_ What was that for!?"

"No respectable girl is going to sleep with a guy on the first date."

Hitsugaya's head was dizzy from all the new information. But the last two comments caused his jaw to go slack. "W-w-what!?"

"You know...protection. Like con-" Ichigo was cut off by a whack to the head.

"Stop telling him stuff like that!"

"If he doesn't know about stuff like that, he could get into trouble!"

Ichigo and Rukia started getting into a heated argument and Hitsugaya took this time to escape. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea' he mused. That comment about protection made him remember about the colorful box Ukitake-taicho gave him. Was he really expected to do _that?_ He sighed, this whole thing was definitely more trouble than it was worth.

"So, Toshiro! You do know how to put on a-" Ichigo and Rukia had finally stopped fighting and Ichigo turned to where Hitsugaya had been sitting, only to find empty space.

"What the? Where did he go?"

"It seems that he left already" Rukia replied, pointing at the figure of Hitsugaya outside. Suddenly an evil gleam appeared in her eye. "You know what we should do? We should follow him."

Ichigo groaned. There was no stopping her when she got that look in her eyes. But the truth was that he was curious too.

"Aight"

* * *

**Erm yeah not that great of a chapter. Some OOC moments on Hitsugaya's behalf. I don't really know how to write Ichigo/ Rukia so I dunno about that. **

**I apologize for any inconsistencies and the late update. **

**Until next time, Cheers. **


	6. Hiatus?

**Faithful followers of my fics, I deeply and profusely apologize ahead of time. One, for this is not an update and the fact that I have not updated in a while. Two, for being the bearer of bad news.**

**As of now my stories will be on hiatus for a while. The reason being of the academic nature. As seeing I will have to go through the college process of which will of course be a tedious and nerve-wracking process; I also made the mistake of taking 5 AP courses and an internship. Seeing that the AP tests are in a few months, I have come to the realization that I actually will have to study for them, as I fall asleep in class and I discover now that I know about half the stuff that's going to be on the tests. **

**Therefore my stories will most likely not be updated until mid-May or so and that's just a rough estimate. There will be a few random updates and oneshots here and there when I feel a need to unwind and just write a little. Once again I apologize and I hope that followers of my fics will still be interested when I return and update more constantly. **


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